Epic Ink Test

[yogalarva]

This is the second round of ink testing that I am doing - the first is already three months in and you can find those posts on my blog. I figured that for this one I would start from the beginning on here and post updates as I go along.

 

Eek! I am so excited about this. After taking nearly a month to fill up a new page full of inks (partly because I went on vacation for a week), it’s finally ready:

 

 

As with my first epic ink test, I will have four tests running in parallel: a control which will be kept in a plastic sleeve in a notebook, an ambient light test which will hang on my fridge, a water test, and a sunlight test which will hang in my bedroom window. The ambient and sunlight tests are already in place, so let’s meet our contenders for this round, shall we?

 

 

Just in case you cannot easily read my handwriting, here are the inks that will be tested:

 

1. Pilot Varsity disposable pen in black
2. Diamine Salamander
3. Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses
4. Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine
5. Iroshizuku Tsutsuji
6. Private Reserve Shoreline Gold
7. Paradise Pen Turquoise
8. Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku
9. Fisher Space Pen, black ink
10. Yoobi gel pen
11. Organics Studio Gregor Mendel
12. Diamine Poppy Red
13. Standard Sharpie marker
14. Noodler’s Sequoia Green
15. Organics Studio Edgar Allen Poe
16. Noodler’s El Lawrence
17. Pilot G2 in purple
18. Sharpie pen in purple

*The test indicator was written in a black sharpie pen*

This is sad because it also shows you just how far behind I am on posting reviews. I will eventually post reviews for all of these inks except probably the Sharpies…

Anyway, I am very interested in seeing how these inks perform because a lot of them are not marketed as being “bulletproof” or “archival” or “eternal” - they are just regular inks. The paper used is Staples bright white 24 lb inkjet paper and the pens were mostly a mix of M and B nibs.

Right away I can share the results of the water test:

To do this test I submerged the paper in a bowl of cool tap water and let it soak for a few minutes. I then pulled it out, gently blotted off the excess water with a paper towel, and allowed it to air dry on a metal rack.

I would say the following inks “passed” my water test, in that they would be easily still readable by someone who did not do the original writing:

• Pilot Varsity
• Diamine Salamander (this is weird, because as I noted in my review I saw some water resistance there but then retested on different paper and it was not there, but this is the same paper I used in the review so…?)
• Noodler’s BSiAR and El Lawrence
• Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku (I saw similar performance on the water test which will accompany my review)
• Fisher Space Pen and Yoobi gel pen
• OS Gregor Mendel and Edgar Allen Poe
• Both Sharpies

The rest of the inks I would say are not terribly water resistant. Obviously this is my opinion and you might feel differently, but a lot of them washed out just a bit too much for me to write anything that needs to be permanent.

So, that’s where I will leave this for now. In a month I’ll update on how the other two tests are coming along and in the mean time I’ll start working on the page for round 3! :-)

[visvamitra]

Cool.

[playtime]

awesome:) PM sent.

[dgturner]

Very nice. I love the concept! This will provide a nice set of compare/contrast data for people looking for inks with regard to their durability.

[yogalarva]

Very nice. I love the concept! This will provide a nice set of compare/contrast data for people looking for inks with regard to their durability.

 

Thanks! I have definitely changed my mind about a few inks that are not faring well in my first test - seeing Diamine Coral disappear in a month of sunlight was particularly eye opening.

[Pentulant]

An impressive undertaking!!!

[amberleadavis]

Great stuff. Thank you.

[yogalarva]

Hello! Back with an update after one month. I'm pasting the text from my blog, so forgive me if it sounds a bit stilted in places...

 

If you missed the first post from this test, you might want to go catch up on ithere. You can also find water test performance there, and now let’s take a look at how the ambient light and sunlight tests are holding up:

 

 

The ambient light sheet is on the right, the control is on the left. Recall that the ambient light test is performed by hanging on the side of my refrigerator, where it gets a mix of diffuse sunlight and fluorescent lighting throughout the day. Not much (if anything) has changed here, and I’m not sure that I expect it to based on the first round test.

 

But, realistically we are all here for the sunlight test, so let’s get on with it… We had a bit of a surprise with the first round from the Diamine Coral and don’t worry, I can deliver this time too!

 

 

As you can see, the control is again on the left and the sunlight is on the right. Most of the inks look almost unchanged, except for the following:

 

 

• Iroshizuku Tsutsuji and PR Shoreline Gold are slightly faded, but not much
• OS Gregor Mendel has yellowed and faded, which doesn’t surprise me because it’s colored with chlorophyl… I’m very interested to see how this one ages as we go alone
• Diamine Poppy Red is now a rusty orange but still totally readable
• The purple Pilot G2 is all but gone. Yes, you can still read it on the page, but I wouldn’t want to try and decipher a full page of that!

Overall, I’m quite surprised by how well these inks are standing up to the sun. I did expect the G2 to do better given how well the black is performing in the first round of tests, but then again red and purple inks tend to not be the most robust.

 

That’s what we have for this month’s updates. Stay tuned next month for another check on this test, and in 6-ish weeks for the 6 month mark on the first round of tests. :-)

[amberleadavis]

In all my tests Pilot G2s disappoint me, especially because I love using them.

[tinysnail]

Looking forward to seeing more updates! This is making me want to do a big ol fade test of my own. Maybe in October after I move

[yogalarva]

Hokey pokey artichokeys! It's a few days late, but here's an update after 2 months:

 

As is customary, let’s take a look at the ambient test. This one has been hanging on the side of my fridge for the past two months, out of direct light but in the path of diffuse light (both natural and artificial) during the day.

 

 

On the left is the control test that has been hiding for the past two months in myArc notebook. On the right is the page exposed to ambient light. If you ask me, those look pretty much identical.

 

Ok, then let’s move on to the page hanging out in my window, getting a tan:

 

 

Again, control on the left, sunlight on the right. Let’s try and categorize some of the changes these inks have undergone in two months in the late summer sun:

 

 

• No major change - Pilot Varsity, Diamine Salamander, Noodler’s BSiAR,Paradise Pen Turquoise, Iroshizuku Ku Jaku, Fisher Space Pen, Yoobi gel pen, Sharpie permanent pen, Noodler’s Sequoia Green, OS Edgar Allen Poe, Noodler’s El Lawrence, Sharpie purple pen
• Noticeable fading - Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine, Iroshizuku Tsutsuji, PR Shoreline Gold, OS Gregor Mendel, Diamine Poppy Red
• Total obliteration - Pilot G2 in purple

Overall I would have to say that I’m impressed with how these inks are faring. Still a bit disappointed by the purple G2, but I guess you can’t always win. And, because it’s too much fun, here are my predictions for what I think we’ll see in a month: Tsutsuji will be pretty faded but still readable, Gregor Mendel and Poppy Red will be on their way out, and (this is just speculation) the PP Turquoise will be fading significantly.

[amberleadavis]

Give it a little while and sharpies too will fade. The pilots were a disappointment to me too. Great test keep up the good work.

[yogalarva]

It's been three months, so time for another update! :-)

 

Let’s start with the ambient light sheet, which as you remember is hanging on the side of my fridge and getting a mix of diffuse sunlight as well as fluorescent lighting while I’m home:

 

 

I see no difference here. I’ve heard of inks fading all on their own before (even in closed books) but I have not seen that yet in either round of the testing. Perhaps I’m just lucky, or it’s a paper-dependent thing, I don’t know. But, as I did with the first round test, I think I’m going to pull the ambient light test out of action at this point since it’s obvious that nothing is happening here, at least nothing that isn’t happening to the control sheet as well.

 

Now for the sunlight, which is really the exciting part:

 

 

Compared to what we saw after two months in the sun, not a ton has changed. The Tsutsuji, Shoreline Gold, Gregor Mendel, and Poppy Red (numbers 5, 6, 11, and 12, respectively) do look a bit lighter, but all are still legible. Curiously, the Edelstein Aventurine (number 4) is not fading anymore but darkening and changing to more of a blue color. Certainly not ideal in terms of color preservation, but perhaps not a bad thing in terms of general writing preservation?

 

Otherwise, the inks that were readable a month ago are still readable and largely unchanged from their original state. I do think that when we check in at 4 or 4.5 months the Gregor Mendel will be largely illegible, as well as the Poppy Red if we get some good, sunny days.

[amberleadavis]

Looking shady...I mean sunny... I mean good!

[yogalarva]

Alright, time for the last updates on my Nebraska-based ink testing. I will be starting another two rounds in the next few days here in WI, but let’s wrap up the old stuff first, shall we?

 

So, which inks survived the full 5 months in a south-facing, sunny window?

 

 

I think this round saw much better performances by conventional inks, though it didn’t go quite as long so it’s hard to say what would have happened with a few more months. I am a bit disappointed with the OS Gregor Mendel, especially since it’s so fun to use otherwise. And the poor showing by the purple G2 makes me quite hopeful that the Pilot Juice pens in the next round will be as fade resistant as they claim.

 

Overall, I’m quite excited to start my next few rounds, because I have some quite interesting contestants lined up. :-)

[amberleadavis]

Let me know how Juice does.